Wednesday 27 June 2012, 11:30 | By CMU Editorial

Alabama Shakes announce tour

Gigs & Festivals

Retro rock sorts Alabama Shakes, whose debut LP ‘Boys & Girls’ was released to positive noise back in April, have just attached various November dates to their existing live calendar. In addition to playing Oxford’s Academy and Brighton’s Concorde on 4 and 5 Sep respectively, the band are now to visit the following:

12 Nov: Manchester, Academy
13 Nov: Glasgow, Barrowlands
16 Nov: London, Coronet
17 Nov: London, The Forum

Nas, Santigold, Paul Weller for free Converse Represent nights

Gigs & Festivals

Converse have announced a serial version of their semi-regular free shows at London’s 100 Club, as have in the past featured Graham Coxon, Chairlift and Kindness amongst others.

The music-backing sneaker brand have booked artists including Paul Weller, Nas, Santigold, SBTRKT and a mystery “very special guest” to play across nine so called ‘Represent’ nights, the first of which takes place on 30 Jul and hosts headliner Plan B.

Free tickets for each show are only available by first entering this contest. Here’s motivation to do that in the form of all nine Represent line-ups:

30 Jul: Plan B, L Marshall, Jacob Banks, Yuna
31 Jul: UK Subs, Discharge, Anti-Nowhere League, Goldblade, Ed Tudor Pole, Dumbjaw
1 Aug: Paul Weller, Spiritualized, Japandroids, 2:54, Towns
2 Aug: Very Special Guest, The Bots, Savages, Swiss Lips
6 Aug: SBTRKT, Rudimental, John Talabot, Man Without Country
7 Aug: Santigold, Django Django, Best Coast, Citizens!, Friends
8 Aug: Toots & The Maytals, Natty, The Heatwave, Janice Graham Band
9 Aug: Overkill, Pulled Apart By Horses, The Safety Fire, Wet Nuns
10 Aug: Nas, Kano, Speech Debelle, Spoek Mathambo, Children Of The Night

Publishing departures: Platt leaves EMI, Sanghvi leaves Sony/ATV

Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers

Long-term senior EMI Music Publishing executive ‘Big’ Jon Platt has confirmed he is departing the music publisher’s US division, according to Billboard.

A leading player in urban music publishing, having signed the likes of Kanye West, Jay-Z, Diddy, Beyonce, Drake, Usher and Ludacris over the years, there have been rumours Platt might be leaving the EMI publishing business for a few weeks.

The EMI publishing company is, of course, set to be split from the EMI record company later this year, as part of a takeover by a Sony-led consortium. Assuming that deal gets regulator approval, it will mean Sony/ATV will control the EMI publishing company, which is likely to remain an autonomous unit, but with a somewhat streamlined workforce. Whether the uncertainty of EMI Publishing’s immediate future has motivated Platt’s departure isn’t known.

That said, one of the rumours regards a possible new employer for Platt is Sony/ATV itself, he having worked with the Sony publishing firm’s top man Marty Bandier when he previously headed up the EMI company. Though some gossipers reckon that is an unlikely move, and point to a possible role at Warner Music’s publishing company instead, or a possible alliance with Jay-Z at Roc Nation.

Elsewhere in the Sony/ATV/EMI empire (even though technically that empire doesn’t exist yet), Music Week is reporting that the UK MD of the Sony publishing business, Rak Sanghvi, has also announced his departure. It’s not clear what his immediate plans are.

Ninja Tune announces partnership with Werkdiscs

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Ninja Tune has announced a new partnership with Werkdiscs, with the former providing the latter with marketing and distribution services. Run by Darren Cunningham, aka Actress, Werkdiscs was founded in 2004 and has since released albums such as Zomby’s ‘Where Were You In 92?’ and Lone’s ‘Ecstasy & Friends’, as well as Cunningham’s own debut, ‘Hazyville’.

However, since Cunningham signed to Honest Jon’s in 2010 for the release of the second Actress album ‘Splazsh’ the company has fallen quiet. The new deal with Ninja Tune will revive Werkdiscs, with plans to release Lukid’s third album ‘Lonely At The Top’ and a sequel to ‘Hazyville’, entitled ‘Ghettoville’, in the works.

To celebrate the new partnership, Ninja Tune and Werkdiscs are giving away a free download of a new Actress track, ‘Metamorphosis’, here.

MU welcomes new global treaty on audio/visual performer rights

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

The Musicians’ Union has welcomed the signing of a new global intellectual property agreement in Beijing designed to provide performers in audio-visual productions both economic and moral rights in their work when distributed internationally. The agreement, signed by 46 countries, is really designed to extend the rights of actors in internationally distributed films, though will also benefit musicians who appear in audio-visual work.

The treaty, some twelve years in development, was signed at a conference held in the Chinese capital by the World Intellectual Property Organisation. That body’s Director General, Francis Gurry, told reporters: “The conclusion of the Beijing Treaty is an important milestone toward closing the gap in the international rights system for audio-visual performers and reflects the collaborative nature of the multilateral process. The international copyright framework will no longer discriminate against one set of performers”.

Welcoming the new agreement from a musicians point of view, John Smith, General Secretary of the UK’s Musicians’ Union and President of the International Federation Of Musicians, told CMU: “Being present at the historic WIPO Diplomatic Conference on the Protection Of Audiovisual Performances in Beijing has been a great honour. This week the WIPO member states have agreed a treaty which extends the protection of performers’ intellectual property rights, already enjoyed in audio productions and live performance, to audiovisual productions. This means that for the first time performers will enjoy both economic and moral rights in all of their recorded and live work”.

Calling on the European Union and UK to implement its new international obligations into relevant domestic laws quickly, he continued: “Music is an integral and important part of audio-visual productions and the community of musicians will most definitely benefit from the adoption of this important treaty. We hope that the EU and UK government ratify and implement it at the earliest opportunity”.

Live Nation buys LA dance music promoter

Business News Deals Live Business

Live Nation has further extended its reach into the good old electronic dance music domain by buying LA-based dance music promoter Hard Events, according to the New York Times.

The new deal follows Live Nation’s acquisition of the UK-based Cream business and festivals, and the appointment of Cream chief James Barton as the live music giant’s President of Electronic Music.

Corporate interest in the growth of EDM have risen quite a bit in recent months, especially in the US where the genre is enjoying new found popularity. As well as Live Nation’s moves into the genre, Robert Sillerman, the entrepreneur behind the former SFX and existing CKX music and media companies, recently announced he’d set aside a billion dollars to buy into the EDM sector.

Though inthemix notes that Gary Richards, the founder of Hard Events, which is probably best known for its Hard Summer festival, recently told the New York Times he was suspicious of such corporates moving into the dance space, noting “you can’t just franchise this like McDonalds”. However, it seems he now reckons a Live Nation alliance will enable the expansion of his events globally.

Spotify announces Yahoo tie-up

Digital

Spotify has formed a new alliance with Yahoo, that will see the flagging web firm offer streaming music on its website, to US users at least, utilising the Swedish company’s platform. The new deal replaces Yahoo’s previous music partnership with Rhapsody, the web giant – one of the early innovators in streaming music – having long since ditched its own music service.

Although Yahoo’s Lisa Goodwin told the Press Association that the new partnership, unlike the Rhapsody tie-up, won’t require users to navigate away from the Yahoo website to access music, they will need the Spotify player installed on their PCs, because it’s thought Yahoo pages will simply carry the artist-specific play buttons that various other sites already feature, that force the Spotify player to open with a specific playlist ready to play.

Spotify already has play buttons on various other partner websites, of course, though what is interesting about this deal is reports that Yahoo will earn a commission whenever a user that originated with the web firm’s sites signs up to a premium account with the streaming firm, leading some to wonder whether the Swedish company is planning a fuller affiliate scheme.

Yahoo will also launch an app within the Spotify player and provide some artist-specific content.

Lucy Jones named Deputy Editor of NME.com

Media

NME

Lucy Jones has been announced as the new Deputy Editor of NME.com, replacing Tim Chester, who has moved on to become Web Editor at Roughguides.com and Traveldk.com.

Jones joins the NME’s online division from The Daily Telegraph, where she has been a music writer since 2008.

The website’s editor Luke Lewis tweeted the news yesterday, saying: “Really bloody thrilled to announce that Lucy Jones will be starting as Deputy Editor of NME.com in August”.

Spice Girls reunite for press conference

And Finally

As expected, the Spice Girls got back together yesterday for a press conference to announce the Jennifer Saunders-penned musical using their music, ‘Viva Forever’. Produced by Judy Craymer, who was also responsible for ‘Mamma Mia’, it will open at The Piccadilly Theatre in London on 11 Dec, replacing ‘Ghost: The Musical’.

As well as announcing that one small piece of information, the group padded out the event with some chit chat. Here, according to Reuters, is one of the things that Victoria Beckham said: “As much as we’ve written the songs, we also didn’t want to creatively stifle Judy and Jennifer. So, somewhat, we have let them do what they do. Their success speaks for themselves. We really gave them the freedom to do their thing. We had a lot of faith in them”.

And here is a thing that Geri Halliwell said: “It’s not about actually us, it’s the essence of the Spice Girls. There is a talent show in there, but actually, really what it’s about is about friendship, it’s about motherhood and then there is a little bit of how do you juggle between success and friendship?”

Well done, theatre. Well done.

Eddy Says: Danny McNamara has something important to tell you

Eddy Says

Regular readers of the Eddy Says column will know that Eddy is an ambassador for mental health charity CALM, aka the Campaign Against Living Miserably. The organisation aims to reduce the suicide rate amongst young men and stop it from being the biggest cause of death for men under 35 in the UK. An important part of this is simply trying to get men to discuss their feelings, something Eddy has written about before, and this week he hands over to Embrace frontman Danny McNamara, who has done just that. But first, as way of an introduction, Eddy recalls his first meeting with Danny, way back when he worked for MTV.

Eve, then MTV’s Talent & Artist Relations fox, sashayed down the runway between the desks at MTV-UK Production. She had the best walk I’ve ever seen, and worked that strip of flooring like the catwalk of an Alexander McQueen show. She was making a b-line for my desk.

“Hi Eddy”.

“Hey gorgeous, how are you?”

“Good. You’re going to love this – Embrace are coming in to do a special”, she said, excitedly. The excitement was infectious, she knew I was a big Embrace fan.

“What on my show?” I asked.

“No, a full, hour-long Embrace special, live performance and interview, and here’s the thing, they’ve put in a special request – effectively they’ll only do the interview if YOU do it – seems you have friends in high places”.

“I’ve never met them”, I said. “But that’s so cool, thanks Eve!”

I felt really flattered. Why would a band I’ve never met specifically ask for me to interview them? Embrace always connected with me on an emotional level. You’re aware – if you read this column – that I’m not afraid to tell the truth, no matter what the consequences, and that I wear my heart on my sleeve. Embrace always did that too, and I loved them for it. I saw them play at Brixton Academy, at the height of their popularity, and they made the place feel like one big family.

So come the day of the special, I went to MTV earlier than the time I was told to arrive, so I could see the live performance being recorded too. I stood behind the director and vision mixer, in this dark gallery, watching the band go through their set. At one point Danny – whom I’d still never met – halted proceedings.

“Hang on a minute”, he said in his broad Yorkshire twang. “I don’t know if Eddy Temple-Morris is watching this right now, but if he is, I just wanna tell ‘im summat: Eddy, thank you for all the lovely things you’ve said about uz – it means a lot”.

It’s true I had been gushing – as I do when I love something – on my MTV show. It’s funny how these things trickle through the ether and hit home. I never thought they might actually be watching when I was enthusing about their music.

The hug I gave him when we met a little later for the interview was big and long.

It went well, and provided a foundation for a relationship that’s lasted until now. I’ve interviewed the band several times over the years, but more importantly, Danny became a friend. More than that, a good friend, one of my nearest and dearest. We’ve always stayed in touch and see each other regularly. Danny is a great friend and a shining example of a man, because he approaches relationships in a very feminine way. And I can’t give more of a compliment than that.

He’s a fantastic listener, which most men aren’t. He’s a great communicator, and most men are terrible at that. And he’s also a fantastic giver of honest feedback and advice. He’ll always call a spade a spade, and never be afraid to bring up an awkward subject, and these are the things we HAVE to communicate about more often. In the context of the male suicide charity I work for, CALM, Danny is a paragon of what a man should ideally be when it comes to simply communicating with people.

But even Danny has carried a dark secret that he’s never shared with anyone but his closest friends. He spent four years fighting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It nearly killed him. It’s something that takes huge guts to put out there, and that’s what he did last week via Twitter and Tumblr, and it’s something I have huge admiration for.

His motives were commendable. Tweeting a link to a Tumblr post about his struggle with PTSD, he wrote: “OK here it is, be gentle with me, it’s taken me 20 years to pluck up the courage, but hopefully it might help someone”. And of course it will. I know it will, because I’ve talked to so many men with depression, or bi-polar disorder, and when somebody like Danny comes out like this and says “I’m one of you” that is a powerful bit of empathy and a priceless awareness raiser. It gets people talking, more to the point it gets them talking about something they never normally talk about. That is golden. That is half the battle won.

Danny’s been touched by people coming out and talking about mental illness, getting it out there. It’s a cause very close to my heart, as you know, so I found this whole thing fascinating and very moving.

I love you Danny, I always will, through thick or thin, so this week it’s not Eddy Says, it’s Danny Says. Read his blog post here.

Approved: Cuushe

CMU Approved

Having released her debut album, ‘Red Rocket Telepathy’, in 2009, Japanese dream-pop producer Cuushe returns next month with a new EP, ‘Girl You Know That I Am Here But The Dream’. Featuring three new tracks, it also comes packaged with a bank of remixes, including contributions from Julia Holter, Teen Daze, Blackbird Blackbird and Kixnare.

Split across three discs (or groups of MP3s), the EP kicks of with ‘Do You Know The Way To Sleep’, which begins with stabs of piano chased by ice-like synths, and gradually forms into a rich, swirling soundscape. ‘I Dreamt About Silence’, meanwhile, fits in more with the wave of Vangelis influenced producers who have emerged in the last couple of years, though with a more fragile sound. And ‘9125days Of Sleep Waves’ sounds like a slick 80s pop track gradually floating apart.

The eight remixes take Cuushe’s sound is very different directions, the likes of Kixnare choosing to up the bass and make it more forceful, while Julia Holter and Motion Sickness Of Time Travel break tracks apart to create collages of sound rather than reworking them as songs, as such.

‘Girl You Know That I Am Here But The Dream’ is due for release through Flau on 16 Jul. Listen to ‘I Dreamt About Silence’ here:

Ofcom publishes latest three-strikes code – time for more consultation

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

Media regulator OfCom has published a new draft of its copyright code, the document that outlines how the three-strikes anti-file-sharing system put in place by the Digital Economy Act in 2010 will work.

Well, the initial element of it anyway, in which letters are sent by internet service providers to suspected file-sharers warning them that copyright infringement has occurred on their net connection, when the net provider is made aware that a user has been sharing unlicensed content by a rights owner.

A ‘strike-three’ sanction does not yet exist (and would require further parliamentary involvement to instigate), so at the moment the so called graduated response system would simply provide a slightly smoother framework via which content owners could file legal proceedings against prolific file-sharers, something rights owners can already do, of course, and have on occasion, though in the main UK music companies have shied away from prolific file-sharer litigation.

The new code is a development of one first drafted almost as soon as the 2010 DEA was passed. Only a few changes have been made in the subsequent two years of development, one regulates the way rights owners gather evidence against suspected file-sharers, another adds extra obligations on what information ISPs must provide in their warning letters, and a third refinement clarifies (and limits) how accused file-sharers can appeal if they believe allegations are incorrect.

OfCom will now further consult stakeholders, including rights owners, net firms and consumer groups, about the latest draft, with a view to presenting the code to parliament later this year (subject to an earlier review by the European Commission). As previously reported, it’s thought that, even if this draft of the code is approved by the end of this year, it could be 2014 before warning letters are actually sent out, meaning any strike-three measures wouldn’t be on the table until 2015.

As also previously reported, various execs from across the music industry have been critical regards quite how long it has taken for this code to be written since the DEA was rushed through parliament in 2010, though external factors haven’t helped, in particular BT and TalkTalk trying to have the copyright element of the Act overturned through judicial review.

Commenting on the latest draft of OfCom’s code, Geoff Taylor, boss of record label trade body the BPI, told CMU: “It’s time to get down to business and start implementing the law to educate consumers about illegal downloading, so that artists and creators are fairly rewarded for their hard work”.

There’s more info about the code at here.

Global competitors to raise competition objections to GMG deal

Media Top Stories

Three of Global Radio’s rivals have called on the competition regulator to block the UK radio major’s bid to expand further by acquiring The Guardian’s radio company, which operates the Real and Smooth radio brands.

As previously reported, it was confirmed yesterday that Global had successfully bid for GMG Radio, after weeks of speculation that the Guardian publisher was in talks to sell its radio business. Initial reports suggested Global had paid in the region of £50 million to buy its rival, but Media Guardian suggests the final figure was closer to £70 million, after a bidding battle between Global and its biggest competitor in the UK radio sector Bauer.

Bauer are now among those who are thought to be already lobbying against the proposed Global/GMG merger, arguing that the deal will give the company more than 50% of the UK radio advertising market, and that that would make the company too dominant. TalkSport operator UTV, which was also bidding for GMG Radio, and the Absolute Radio company will also object to the deal.

Speaking to The Guardian, UTV’s Scott Taunton said: “This merger would leave the enlarged Global Radio controlling more than 50% of commercial radio revenues, and more than 50% of listening in key markets like London and Manchester. The competition authorities should see this for what it is, an attempt to achieve an unassailable position of market dominance. Simply put, the proposed merger must not go ahead. We are consulting with our legal advisers to prepare our engagement with the Office Of Fair Trading’s investigation”. Statements from Absolute and Bauer, while not quite so forthcoming, communicated similar sentiment.

UTV also raised concerns about the other part of yesterday’s announcement from Global, that the current boss of GMG Radio, Stuart Taylor, will resign with immediate effect, and the company will be run by a Global Radio exec, Mark Lee, on secondment while the regulators investigate the deal. UTV said it was “seeking urgent clarification” as to how that would work, and whether Global could ensure that GMG Radio continued to operate as a standalone company while any competition investigation is going through the motions, as the law demands.

If the merger does get the go ahead it will mean that what were three big British radio firms just over five years ago – Chrysalis Radio, GCap and GMG Radio – will have become one mega-major, in control of a significant portion of the country’s commercial radio listeners and advertisers. Global is certain to stress that in terms of listeners it also competes with the BBC, which commands even bigger audience share overall, and on the commercial side the company now also competes head on with online audio and music services, and faces ever tougher competition from that domain as the internet finally reaches the kitchen, bathroom and car, key locations for radio listening.

Though pluggers at the big record companies will tell you that, despite the internet revolution, for mainstream releases radio remains a key platform for promoting artists and music, and they too may worry about a Global in control of so much of the UK radio sector. Especially given Global’s known ambitions in the music publishing and talent management space (fears of programming bias towards the firm’s own acts may be unjustified, but they are fears nonetheless), and the recent petty ban of One Direction at flagship pop station Capital after a silly slip by one of the boy band’s members during an awards acceptance speech.

Competition regulators will likely consider the implications of the Global/GMG deal on a region by region basis, and may force the offloading of frequencies in those areas where the combined company would be particularly dominant. A similar approach when Global acquired GCap in 2008 forced the sale of various stations in the Midlands, which were bought by a Phil Riley-led consortium to create Orion Media. According to Absolute Radio’s CEO Donnach O’Driscoll, Global/GMG would be most dominant in Glasgow, Birmingham and especially Cardiff.

Though it’s thought Global will argue that, given the new competition it faces from online media, competition regulators should be more generous than in 2008, even though this deal will give the company unprecedented dominance in the British radio market.

MP3tunes.com founder fails to have EMI case against him personally halted

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal

MP3tunes.com

MP3tunes.com founder Michael Robertson has failed to have legal proceedings being pursued against him by EMI halted, despite the demise of his of most recent digital music venture.

As much previously reported, EMI sued MP3tunes.com, one of the first music-specific digital locker services which also operated a platform for storing and sharing links to music online, accusing it of various kinds of copyright infringement.

In the end most court time was spent on the link sharing facility, which, a judge ruled, was basically legal under America’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act, though certain failures to operate an efficient takedown system (removing, when alerted by content owners, posted links that pointed to unlicensed content), and evidence Robertson himself used his own service to share links to unlicensed content, meant there was some liability for infringement.

After years of fighting the EMI litigation, which was first launched in 2007, MP3tunes.com filed for bankruptcy last month, and the ongoing legal case against it was stayed, or put on hold, permanently. But the major label had sued both the MP3tunes.com company and Robertson himself. And when the digital firm filed for bankruptcy protection last month, EMI accused Robertson of simply trying to avoid liability for the copyright infringement he was accused of, and vowed to continue to pursue the entrepreneur directly for damages.

For his part, Robertson requested that the court stay the case against him personally too, but yesterday a judge denied that request. This means that EMI can continue to fight Robertson through the courts in a bid to win its damages.

Some have suggested that the MP3tunes.com man could end up paying damages of up to $75 million to the major record company, though as C-Net points out, that seems unlikely, given last year LimeWire settled with the entire US record industry for $105 million, while in 2007 Kazaa settled for $100 million, and both services enabled vastly more infringement than MP3tunes.com, and the settlements were with all the majors, not just one. Though those deals were ultimately settled out of court, and it remains to be seen if Robertson will be willing to do that.

Apple co-founder confirms support for Dotcom

Digital Legal MegaUpload Timeline

After former MegaUpload chief Kim ‘Dotcom’ Schmitz posted a photo of himself with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak when he returned to Twitter last week, the former Apple man has now spoken out in support of his new friend, who, of course, faces criminal charges of copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering in the US.

Speaking to C-Net, Wozniak says he believes America’s case against Dotcom and the other former MegaUpload chiefs is unjust, partly by employing the classic ‘net companies are just postmen’ argument, but partly by insisting Dotcom et al were trying hard to reduce the illegal use of their file-transfer and video-sharing websites.

Wozniak: “When crimes occur through the mail, you don’t shut the post office down. When governments dream up charges of ‘racketeering’ for a typical IT guy who is just operating a file-sharing service, or accuse him of mail fraud because he said he had removed files [to alleged infringing content] when he’d just removed the links to them, this is evidence of how poorly thought out the attempt to extradite him is. Prosecutors are attempting to take advantage of loopholes. Too bad for the US government that Dotcom lives in New Zealand, which is better on human rights”.

He also criticised the US government for not allowing Dotcom et al sufficient access to their frozen funds to cover the legal costs of fighting the charges against them. He continued: “How unfair that the United States will allow him living expenses out of his frozen assets but not give him any legal fees. The side with access to the funds spends millions on lawyers hoping the other side goes bankrupt and gives in. Shame on the system that permits this one-sided advantage. [But] Kim is well enough liked and respected that his legal team is working without up-front payment”.

Adding that he was no fan of piracy, Wozniak concluded that he felt traditional content companies were too quick to see technical innovations and innovators as a threat, rather than working with them to open up new opportunities. He concluded: “I will note that Apple was the pioneer in finding the first good compromise [with the music industry over the legal distribution of MP3 files] with iTunes. Thank heavens that this wasn’t stopped at the beginning”.

Of course American prosecutors will argue that Dotcom et al had no intention of working with entertainment companies to generate new opportunities. Rather they recognised that quick commercial success could only be achieved by allowing (and encouraging) users to upload large amounts of unlicensed content, that other users would then flock to access, while hiding behind the ‘legitimate user’ and ‘DMCA takedown system’ defences when accused of contributory copyright infringement; even though – prosecutors will argue – legitimate users were never core to the business, and the DMCA takedown system was deliberately shoddy.

As much previously reported, the US is trying to extradite Dotcom and six other men, four in total from New Zealand, to face the various charges against them and their company. Defence lawyers, as well as denying all the charges made against their clients, also argue that the US cannot prosecute the MegaUpload corporate entity because it had no base in America, and that the personal charges against the Mega execs are not sufficiently serious to justify extradition.

Placebo cover star threatens to sue

Business News Legal

David Fox, who, as a twelve year old, appeared on the cover of Placebo’s 1996 eponymous debut album, has announced that he is planning to sue the band for using the image without his consent. Now 28, Fox says that the bullying he suffered following the album’s success caused him to drop out of school and has had a detrimental effect on his adult life.

Speaking to The Times, he said: “What had happened was my brother had just passed away, and my cousin came up from London to see me. He was a professional photographer, and he took some photographs of my family for his personal use. He brought up all his equipment and got me to do a few poses outside”.

A month later, he says, his cousin called him to tell him he was going to be on an album cover. “Within a week it was out in the shops. It was in Virgin, it was in HMV, it was in Tesco, it was all over the place. I was watching ‘Eastenders’ with my mum and I saw one of the billboards by the Tube station and it had my face on there. Nobody wanted me on their side or anything like that. Even the teachers used to pull me aside and ask me about this CD cover”.

He says he now plans to use his mother’s savings and “every bit of spare money” in order to launch a lawsuit against the band next month. Though it’s not clear as yet on what grounds, given that the copyright in the image will have initially belonged to his cousin, and if he sues on privacy grounds, that may require also taking action against his relation.

Meanwhile, Placebo’s management, Riverman, told The Times that Fox should direct any claims to EMI’s Virgin, which released the record, rather than the band themselves.

Swedish House Mafia announce split

Artist News

Swedish House Mafia, aka the Scandinavian DJ ‘supergroup’ comprising Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso, have decided to disband as soon as their summer tour is over.

Having formed in 2004, the trio have since released a studio LP (2010’s ‘Until One’) and several singles – not least the Tinie Tempah-featuring ‘Miama 2 Ibiza’ and recent hit ‘Greyhound’.

An official statement issued last week by Axwell, Angello and Ingrosso, who will presumably now concentrate on their solo careers, reads: “Today we want to share with you, that the tour we are about to go on will be our last. We want to thank every single one of you that came with us on this journey. We came, we raved, we loved”.

The tour in question will take place throughout July and August, and includes a date at the Milton Keynes Bowl on 14 Jul.

Andre 3000, Earl Sweatshirt to feature on Frank Ocean debut

Releases

Odd Future cohort Frank Ocean has shared the tracklisting from what’s to be his official debut LP, ‘Channel Orange’. Singer-songwriter John Mayer, Outkast’s Andre 3000 and once-exiled OFWGKTA MC Earl Sweatshirt will all feature as guest collaborators on the forthcoming record, which is released via Universal’s Def Jam on 16 Jul.

There’s also some unimaginative ‘Channel Orange’ cover artwork to look at, so do so via this link.

Tracklisting:

Start
Thinkin Bout You
Fertilizer
Sierra Leone
Sweet Life
Not Just Money
Super Rich Kids (feat Earl Sweatshirt)
Pilot Jones
Crack Rock
Pyramids
Lost
White (feat John Mayer)
Bad Religion
Pink Matter (feat Andre 3000)
Forrest Gump
End

Susanne Sundfør LP given UK release

Releases

Having reached number one in the Norwegian charts upon its initial issue in March, the new studio LP from CMU approved chanteuse Susanne Sundfør has just been granted a UK release. ‘The Silicone Veil’, as it’s entitled, will be out via Sonnet Sound on 8 Oct.

Here’s the video for Sundfør’s forthcoming single ‘White Foxes’:

The Antlers preview new EP

Releases

The Antlers have made public part of their forthcoming EP, ‘Undersea’, as is set for release by ANTI-Records on 23 Jul. The four-track EP will represent the New York indie troupe’s most substantial output since last year’s long player ‘Burst Apart’.

Stream ‘Drift Dive’, as features first on the EP’s tracklisting (alongside ‘Endless Ladder’, ‘Crest’ and ‘Zelda’), here.

Tashaki Miyaki to release single

Releases

Last glimpsed releasing an eponymous (and CMU approved) 2011 EP via Sounds Of Sweet Nothing, shoegaze twosome Tashaki Miyaki have now signed to Luv Luv Luv Records for the release of double A-side single ‘Best Friend/Tonight’.

In the interest of promoting said single, the duo will also play the first of several tour dates at the Tunbridge Wells Forum on 22 Jul.

Listen to one half of the new record in the form of ‘Best Friend’ now, if you like:

Nicki Minaj to tour arenas

Gigs & Festivals

Hip pop oddity Nicki Minaj (and her weird alter ego, Roman Zolanski) is to visit the live stage version of her new LP, ‘Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded’, upon eight fortunate UK arenas, having just listed as many tour dates to take place throughout late October/early November.

And the dates are:

21 Oct: Nottingham Arena
22 Oct: Manchester Arena
24 Oct: Liverpool, Echo Arena
25 Oct: Newcastle Arena
27 Oct: Birmingham, LG Arena
30 Oct: London, O2 Arena
3 Nov: Sheffield, Arena
7 Nov: Cardiff Arena

Rancid announce 20th anniversary tour

Gigs & Festivals

US punks Rancid will mark their 20th anniversary with a sure-to-be-significant British and Irish tour. Beginning in Belfast on 28 Nov, the fourteen date outing includes two successive nights at the Forum in London’s Kentish Town also featuring co-headliners Cock Sparrer. Meanwhile Rancid, who have been talking about a new studio LP – their eighth to date – for almost a year now, will begin recording in November prior to the tour.

Here’s a montage marking their time as a band:

Tour dates:

28 Nov: Belfast, Mandela Hall
29 Nov: Dublin, Academy
1 Dec: Nottingham, Rock City
2 Dec: Glasgow, Barrowlands
3 Dec: Liverpool, Academy
4 Dec: Newcastle, Academy
6 Dec: Leeds, Academy
7 Dec: Manchester, Academy
8 Dec: Birmingham, The Ballroom
10 Dec: Norwich, UEA
11 Dec: Bournemouth, Academy
12 Dec: Bristol, Academy
14 Dec: London, The Forum
15 Dec: London, The Forum

El-P plots September outing

Gigs & Festivals

Brooklyn rapper El-P has a new solo LP entitled ‘C4C’ out at the moment, and thus has announced a rare live excursion in view of this fact.

See El-P at the following:

12 Sep: London, The Scala
13 Sep: Brighton, The Haunt
15 Sep: Birmingham, Rainbow Warehouse
16 Sep: Bristol, The Fleece
19 Sep: Manchester, Academy 3

Alt-J list headline dates

Gigs & Festivals

Self-styled “folk-step” quartet Alt-J, whose debut LP ‘An Awesome Wave’ is still making er… waves in the wake of its release earlier this year – have confirmed they’ll take a headline tour of nine of our nation’s cities.

If you haven’t yet heard the band’s next single, ‘Tessellate’ (which, according to Alt-J’s Joe Newman was written about “the lingering of an old flame and the physical intimacy shared with that particular individual”, no less), then why not preview it prior to its 16 Jul release via this SoundCloud player:

In keeping with the same Alt-J theme, here’s the playlist that keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton compiled for us but a month ago.

And finally, to those tour dates:

27 Oct: Manchester, RNCM
28 Oct: Leeds, Cockpit
29 Oct: Glasgow, Oran Mor
30 Oct: Norwich, Waterfront
31 Oct: Birmingham, Academy 2
2 Nov: Oxford, Academy
3 Nov: Bristol, Trinity
4 Nov: Brighton, Concorde
5 Nov: London, Electric Ballroom

Festival of festivals to launch in Blackpool

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

A new festival of festivals will launch in Blackpool later this year called One Of These Days, which will see the people behind sixteen other music events each programme a stage in the seaside town’s Winter Gardens complex, sitting underneath the Blackpool Tower. Field Day, Øya Festival, Melt!, Kendal Calling, the Glastonbury Dance Village, End Of The Road, SWN Festival, The Warehouse Project and the Eden Sessions are among the other festivals due to take part.

Commenting on the motivation for the new event, which will take place on 8 and 9 Dec, One Of These Days promoter Ruth Daniels told CMU: “We had been thinking about starting a boutique festival in the North West of England for a while. The idea just clicked when we saw the Winter Gardens, the space is so conducive to housing lots of different events at the same time. So we decided to invite all the amazing festivals we have seen around the world to come to recreate micro versions of their events across this amazing space”.

Explaining how it will work, Daniels continues: “Each of the sixteen festivals has a venue for one day and night. They will take over the space, bringing a music line up and strong visual elements that reflect their festival. As you walk around The Winter Gardens each space will look and sound completely different, and we have over 150 of the most exciting bands and DJs that have all featured on the stages of the festivals involved. You can buy a day or weekend ticket and that will get you into everything!”

More info at www.oneofthesedaysfestival.com

Festival line-up update – 26 Jun 2012

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

ATP CURATED BY THE NATIONAL, Pontins , Camber Sands, 7-9 Dec: Amongst the attractions just added to ATP’s superlative The National-curated edition are Pedro Soler & Gaspar Claus, The Philistines JR and – very excitingly – Wild Beasts, who’ll play their third LP ‘Smother’ in its entirety. The Kronos Quartet, The Antlers, Owen Pallett, Boris, Sharon Van Etten and Kurt Vile are amongst those acts already announced. www.atpfestival.com/events/thenational.php

CORNBURY MUSIC FESTIVAL, The Great Tew Estate, Chipping Norton, 29 Jun – 1 Jul: Charlotte Church, Honey Ryder and rock vet Steve Winwood are the newest features of Cornbury’s classic live line-up, which also includes Elvis Costello & The Imposters, James Morrison, Jools Holland, Ruby Turner and Alison Moyet. www.cornburyfestival.com

LONDON BLUESFEST, various venues, London, 26 Jun – 6 Jul: With Texas’s Charlene Spiteri, Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor just confirmed as special guests at solo Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood’s BluesFest set, they join Erykah Badu, Nick Lowe, Van Morrison, Tom Jones, George Benson and Hugh Laurie in the wider programme of this London festival. www.bluesfest.co.uk

SZIGET, Danube, Budapest, Hungary, 8-13 Aug: Hungary’s premiere five-day music spectacular announces the addition to its bill of Snoop Dogg, Sum 41, Leftfield and SebastiAn, all of whom will join The Stone Roses, Placebo, The xx, The Killers and many more on Sziget’s 2012 listings. www.sziget.hu/festival_english

Henley Business School to throw spotlight on brand music partnerships

Brands & Merch

The people behind the previously reported new music industry focused MBA course at the Henley Business School will this week stage the first of what are planned to be quarterly “business engagement seminars”, bringing together practitioners to focus on a different area of the music business. The first seminar will focus on brand music partnerships, and will be led by Will Higham from consumer research consultancy Next Big Thing.

Explaining why such partnerships are becoming ever more important, Higham told CMU: “Brands and music are two of the biggest purchase drivers in the world. Brands drive 20% of purchase decision and up to 80% of company value. Meanwhile over half of all Britons claim to be passionate about music and three quarters claim it can have a positive impact on purchase choice. But the negative impact of a weak economy and new technologies means both now need to drive greater revenue levels and streams. Combining two such enormous purchase drivers can offer a solution”.

He continues: “Brands bring reach and scale, music brings credibility and content. The future lies in combining them. And not just in traditional areas such as synch and sponsorship, but in new areas such as discovery platforms, apps, promo product placement and creating social glue”.

Representatives of brand partnership agencies Vision Artists and Capitalise will join artist manager Jonathan Shalit and AEG Live’s Peter Palmer among the line-up of experts to share their viewpoints with a delegation of brand and music industry professionals at the seminar event, being held in Henley on Thursday morning. The new MBA course will begin at the Business School in September.

Cherrytree chief departs Universal

Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers

Universal executive Martin Kierszenbaum is departing the major, and is taking his Cherrytree Records imprint with him.

The songwriter and A&R exec has headed up Interscope division Cherrytree (a sort of play on the German-to-English translation of his surname) since 2005, and has enjoyed successes with Feist, LMFAO, La Rouz and Robyn, and was involved in Lady Gaga’s first two records for the major too.

Confirming his departure from Universal, which seemingly comes after the exec and the major couldn’t agree terms for a new contract, Kierszenbaum told Billboard the he’d leave Interscope at the end of the week and looked “forward to sharing our plans for the next chapter of Cherrytree soon”.

It’s not yet clear what Kierszenbaum’s departure, and Cherrytree seemingly becoming independent of the major, means for those artists currently signed to Interscope/Cherrytree deals.

Gigwise relaunches website

Digital

Music website Gigwise has relaunched its site with a new look, which Simon Perlaki, CEO of Publisher Giant Digital, says “gives more emphasis on the content”. While admitting the revamp, as with any big website overhaul, had been a long process, Perlaki told CMU: “The feedback so far has been very positive, so we’re confident the new site will be welcomed by our users and continue to grow”.

The new site has been designed by Michael Pumo at London agency Branch, who said of the new look: “The design is bold, unpretentious and straight-forward. Users will now find it easier to consume the content they want, without the design itself becoming a barrier. Improvements have also been made to increase usability on touch devices like the Apple iPad. The website will continue to be refined and improved as we collect feedback from our users in the near future”.

Wednesday 27 June 2012, 11:30 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 26 June 2012, 11:25 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 26 June 2012, 11:22 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 26 June 2012, 11:19 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 26 June 2012, 11:16 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 26 June 2012, 11:08 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 26 June 2012, 11:06 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 26 June 2012, 11:01 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 26 June 2012, 10:57 | By CMU Editorial

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